Chamber Opera “Je Renais de mes Cendres” written and composed by Aruán Ortiz

Je renais de mes cendres is the concept for a three-act chamber opera that restores voice to Marie-Louise Coidavid, Queen of Haiti (1811-1820), whose life has long been eclipsed by the monumental figure of her husband, Henri Christophe. The project interrogates historical structural silences shaped by race, gender, and power in the Atlantic World, and reimagines opera as a space of resistance, remembrance, and collective transcendence. The work embraces black experimentalism and surrealism, drawing on Afro-Haitian rhythmic traditions, spectral textures, avant-garde improvisation, and a libretto in French, Haitian Creole, and English. Its aim is not only to narrate Coidavid’s extraordinary life but also to explore how sound, language, and dramaturgy can open portals into suppressed histories. In doing so, the opera positions itself as an interdisciplinary, purpose-driven form, where history, myth, and imagination converge.